Abstract

The issue of causation in insurance contracts has challenged legal practitioners, the courts and academics alike for decades. Prof JP van Niekerk, a professor in Mercantile Law, Faculty of Law at the University of South Africa and Prof RW Vivian, a professor of Finance and Insurance, School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, have been involved in a long debate whether a causal link between an insured's breach of an insurance contract and the claimed loss is required before a claim can be rejected.